Ben Carson is the best-liked GOP candidate heading into debate: Gallup poll

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is easily the best-liked Republican presidential candidate heading into Wednesday evening’s debate in Colorado, according to new Gallup polling.

Sixty-eight percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents have a favorable impression of Mr. Carson, compared to 8 percent who have an unfavorable one, for a net favorable rating of +60, according to a Gallup survey released Tuesday.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was second with a +40 rating (55 percent favorable/15 percent unfavorable), followed by former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina at +33 (46 percent favorable/13 percent unfavorable).

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was next at +32 (52 percent favorable/20 percent unfavorable), and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was right behind him at +31 (49 percent favorable/18 percent unfavorable).

Real estate mogul Donald Trump was at +24 (58 percent favorable/24 percent unfavorable), and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was at +19 (50 percent favorable/31 percent unfavorable). New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was at +10 (40 percent favorable/30 percent unfavorable) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich was at +8 (26 percent favorable/18 percent unfavorable).

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who will be the 10th candidate on the main stage Wednesday, was not included in the analysis.

---

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump struggles to explain his fall in oft-touted 2016 polls

---

Mr. Carson, Mrs. Fiorina, and Mr. Christie appear to have benefitted the most from the debates in terms of boosting their net favorability scores. Mr. Carson had been at +36 before the first GOP debate in August, improving to +57 before the second debate and +60 now.

Mrs. Fiorina had been at +14 before the first debate — where she had been part of the “undercard” forum — before improving to +32 before the second debate and +33 now.

And Mr. Christie had been at -2 before the first debate before ticking up to +3 before the second and +10 now.

Mr. Bush was the only candidate in the analysis whose score went down since the first debate, though his numbers have ticked up since the second one. He had been at +24 before the first one, +15 before the second one and +19 now.